Enlisting into the Navy and firefighting/medic…

Hi, have been interested in joining the military. Goal is to achieve the rating of Corpsman. Understand looking to far ahead when I haven’t entered into the military yet. Questions though as a medic in the Navy are you able to cross train as a firefighter as well, or separate rating in entirety. Thanks for any feedback.

Hi, have been interested in joining the military. Goal is to achieve the rating of Corpsman. Understand looking to far ahead when I haven’t entered into the military yet. Questions though as a medic in the Navy are you able to cross train as a firefighter as well, or separate rating in entirety. Thanks for any feedback.

The search feature is your friend. There are many threads here pertaining to the very question of "Navy Firefighters." Short answer: There really is no such thing as an enlisted Naval "Firefighter." Each and everyone on board a ship is trained minimally as a Firefighter. There are rates however, that do encompass firefighting as part of their job duties- Damage Controlman, as part of the Ship's Company, will act as "advanced" firefighters (bunker gear & SCBA.) They will also coordinate firefighting teams & firefighting activities with other rates. They also perform care and maintenance to firefighting systems, and give refresher training to the other rates. And this is among their other duties.

Aviation Bo'suns Mate (Fuel Handler) I think is the rate for Crash Crews on board ships with aircraft. Again, As part of your rate you will get a little more training in the type of firefighting you are expected to perform, but you are not explicitly a "firefighter."

There are SOME (but they are very, very few and far between) shore-based crash crew firefighters in both the CONUS and outside that do actually work in Firehouses, but from what I understand, the few that exist are being phased out in favor of civilian firefighters.

So, the bottom line is, if you want to be a Firefighter, you should go Air Force.

Cross train as a firefighter? Not really, beyond the damage control training that was pointed out. But if you get stationed as a Corpsman on a Marine Corps Air Station, and I am sure on a Naval Airstations as well, there is the chance that you could get the chance to try out for the search and rescue bird. You may also man the base ambulance, not exactly firefighting, but it gets you a little bit of the feel. We have had a few locally stationed Corpsman, and army medics join the local volunteer rescue squad, we would love some on our vfd roster. For a while there, half the guys at BCC seemed to be HM's from Bethesda Naval Hospital.

Unfortunately the Navy doesn't have much in the way of military firefighters. FWDbuff pretty well summed it up. Aboard ship you have a nucleus fire crew, usually DCs or other Engineering Dept. types. They are augmented by the crew. Bigger ships have a Medical Response Team, HMs. On shore duty, they go to instructor jobs. In the Norfolk area, all the bases have civil service firefighters, and are now running ALS ambulances. Corpsmen no longer run them.

Air Force may be the way to go, os maybe Coast Guard. They have some law enforcement specialties, and they do use medics on their helos and some strike teams.